NEW  BOOKS - VIRAGO ABACUS 1997

Joseph Kanon.  Los Alamos.   Abacus  July 97  £15.99 After the carnage of World War Two, a murder in the desert of New Mexico seems barely     significant. But for the people ‘on the Hill' at Los Alamos, the unsolved killing of Karl Bruner is a catastrophe. For Karl was partially responsible for the security of the Manhattan Project, and was privy to information about the Atom Bomb...
Michael Connolly, a civilian and an ex-reporter, is sent to Los Alamos to investigate the death, and steps into a twilight world where reality - and morality- have become distorted, where breaking the frontiers of science is more important than finding the truth. An espionage novel of unique sensibilities, Los Alomos heralds the arrival of a remarkable new voice in fiction. After a career in publishing, most recently as head of Houghton Mifflin, Joseph Kanon decided that the grass was greener on the other side of the fence and became a novelist He lives in New York and is currently working on his second thriller.
 First UK publication
'Joseph Kanon is an outstanding new writer, and Los Alamos is a triumph of historical recreation and my sort of story-telling' Len Deighton
'It's written with verve and intelligence, it's authentic from beginning to end, and I couldn't put it down' Richard Rhodes, author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb 

Gillian Linscott. Dead Man’s Music.  Pbk  Virago  Aug 97  £5.99 On holiday in the Pennine Moors, Nell Bray detects a whiff of mystery surrounding the murder of a local squire-a mystery that most people think has been solved already. But time is running out and an innocent man will be executed in less than a week unless she can find concrete proof of his
innocence.
Gillian Linscott has been a journalist and radio reporter. She wrote contemporary mysteries before creating Nell Bray She lives in Herefordshire. 'Linscott writes like a rewarding angel' SUNDAY TIMES 

Lia Matera. Designer Crimes.   Pbk  Virago  Nov 97  £5.99
A Laura Di Palma Myster
In Lia Matera's most far-ranging mystery to date, lawyer Laura Di Palma tackles two cases that have her running for her life and from the law. First she witnesses the killing of a labour lawyer, then she finds herself defending an old school friend accused of a very grisly murder. Somehow the cases are linked - but how? And can Laura reveal the connection before she becomes a morgue statistic? Lia Matera is now a full-time writer after teaching at Stanford Law School. She lives in California with her son. 'Lia Matera just keeps getting better'    SARA PARETSKY 

Sandra Scoppettone. Let’s Face the Music and Die.  Pbk Virago  Aug 97  £5.99
A Lauren Laurano Mystery 
Lauren Laurano's friend Elissa is in trouble. Elissa's elderly aunt has been  brutally stabbed to death and, with a financial motive and no alibi, she is the chief suspect. Undaunted, Lauren takes the case, but as it grows more complex, she is forced to use resources she never knew she had -just to stay
alive.
Sandra Scoppettone has published eleven other novels, many under the pseudonym Jack Early. She lives in New York City with writer Linda Crawford. 'Ms Scoppettone has created an original and daring private detective' NEW YORK TIMES 

Sara Paretsky: Edited by.  Women on the Case.   Pbk Virago  Dec 97  £6.99
A woman's work is never done ... Sara Paretsky has brought together a wonderfully diverse collection of crime short stories by her peers. They amply and eloquently demonstrate the wealth of talent in contemporary female writing, from the mean streets of despair to the gilded hell of consumer addiction via the morgue, the courtroom and the university library. An original and star-studded collection.
Sara Paretsky is the author of the V.I. Warshawski novels. She lives in Chicago with her husband and their golden retriever.
Contributors to this collection of twenty-six original stories include LizaCody, Antonia Fraser, Elizabeth George, Linda Grant, Ruth Rendell, Linda Barnes and Sara Paretsky herself. 

Charles Higson. Getting Rid of Mister Kitchen.  Pbk  Abacus  Dec 97  £6.99
'Some days you just can't get rid of a body...' Especially if you're doped up, out of petrol, short on cash and have an alarming talent for getting into fights with anyone and everyone who crosses your path. Action, consequence, retribution: Getting Rid of Mister Kitchen is a brutal -and brutally funny-foray into the darker side of humanity, where motive is meaningless, and justice is just another victim. Charles Higson writes, produces and appears in The Fast Show. He is the author of four novels.
'The missing link between Dick Emery and Bret Easton Ellis'  VOX
'A sizzlingly-paced modern thriller ... vastly entertaining'  NME 

  Iain Banks.  A Song Of Stone.   Abacus    Aug 97 £16.99
The war is ending, perhaps ended. For the castle and its occupants the troubles are just beginning. Armed gangs roam its lawless land where each farm and house supports a column of dark smoke. Taking to the roads with the other refugees, anonymous in their raggedness, seems safer than remaining in the ancient keep.
However, the lieutenant of an outlaw band has other ideas, and the castle becomes the focus for a dangerous game of desire, deceit and death.
A SONG OF STONE demonstrates lain Banks' unique ability to combine a gripping narrative with a soaring, voyaging imagination. Romping with brio from morality play to thriller and back again, he addresses the timeless questions of truth, betrayal, duty and loyalty, weaving them round a complex plot and into a seamless, spellbinding whole.
'The most imaginative British novelist of his generation' The Times
'Currents Of dark wit swirl through Banks' writing, enriching its buoyancy and like Graham Greene, he can readily open the reader's senses to the "foreign-ness" of places' Scotland on Sunday
'His technical facility with language now matches his instinct for storytelling, and the combination makes him one of the best British novelists' Guardian
'A Nineties' Robert Louis Stevenson at ease with fashion and faxes but still writing breathless adventure stories that never ignore the injustices and moral conundrums of the real world' Independent on Sunday
Iain Banks sprang to widespread and controversial public notice with the publication of his first novel, THE WASP FACTORY, in 1984. Since then he has gained enormous and popular critical acclaim with further works of both fiction and science fiction. In 1993 he was acknowledged as one of the Best of Young British writers. In 1996 his number one bestseller, THE CROW ROAD, was adapted for television.
Iain Banks lives in Fife, Scotland.